Trekkies 2

Starring:
Denise Crosby as Herself
Tony Alleyne as Himself
Christine Anderson as Herself
Vaughn Armstrong as Himself
Matthew Feeney as Chief Engineer O’Malley
Charlie Jett as Himself
Dominic Keating as Himself
Gabriel Köerner as Himself
Andy Mangels as Himself
Tracy Scoggins as Herself
Ggreg Snyder as Himself
Joshua Underwood as Himself
Heather Witt as Herself/Romeo and Juliet Nurse
Scott R. Wright as Himself

Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Trekkies 2 documents the phenomenon of Star Trek fandom. This time around the focus is more international as host (and former Star Trek actress) Denise Crosby travels to conventions in Germany, France, England, Brazil, Serbia, Italy, and Australia. A wide variety of regular fans and uber-fans are interviewed. A man that turned his apartment into a Star Trek set is interviewed along with the Star Trek themed “No Kill I” bands. Also profiled are a number of Star Trek fan film makers. A few of the people from the first film are revisited including the woman that dressed in Star Trek attire on the Whitewater jury and a Star Trek kid who is now married (and did the effects for the intro).

Trekkies 2 is rated PG for language.

The Movie:
I never saw the first Trekkies, so I can’t say how this sequel compares to it. I was worried it was going to be a mean spirited film making fun of Trekkies (or Trekkers, whichever you prefer). Fortunately, it wasn’t mean spirited at all. While it does show a few of the extreme fans that are borderline crazy, the “normal” fans are generally focused on more. Despite being dressed as Klingons or whatever, they are allowed to speak their mind on the film and come across as being fairly well adjusted. A few of them are even allowed to criticize the first Trekkies film. (Many of them give reviews of it during the credits.) In short, the film appears fair to fans.

One of the things I liked about Trekkies 2 was that it focused on fans overseas. I had no idea that Star Trek had such a following in Europe, Brazil, and Australia. They don’t seem all that different from American fans, but their takes on fandom are different enough to be interesting. You get to see a Star Trek fan priest deliver mass at an Italian convention. You meet a Brit who converted his apartment into an amazing Star Trek set. There are some absolutely gorgeous female Brazilian Star Trek fans in bikinis. (I bet a lot of Klingons are booking flights there now.) I was particularly impressed with the Serbian fans. They not only seemed the most well adjusted, they had really good reasons for liking Star Trek and its vision of the future. After all, their future is more hopeful and promising than their past. One guy featured is an architect and does amazing drawings of Star Trek ships.

The film also highlights American fans again. A bunch of Star Trek themed bands are shown in Sacramento. While their music didn’t appeal to me, their performances look like they are a lot of fun. Most of the time in America is spent revisiting fans featured in the first film. One young man, Gabriel Koerner, is shown now all grown up and, yes, married. He talks about responses her got from the film and what he’s up to today. (Not only did he do a fan film which is included in the extras, he did the opening credits for Trekkies 2.) Other fan film makers are shown. However, one of the most extreme fans is Barbara Adams, the woman in Little Rock who was known for wearing a Star Trek uniform to jury duty for the Whitewater trial. In one scene one of her co-workers debates why Star Wars is better than Star Trek. (Being a Star Wars fan, I found this amusing, but his argument was pretty weak.) One of the Adams’ friends is also featured and, believe it or not, she’s even weirder. She talks about going to a UFO convention which probably deserves a documentary of its own. In fact, director Roger Nygard did do a film on Roswell and alien fans.

Former Star Trek actress Denise Crosby is the host of the film and she’s pretty good. She seems to be genuinely interested in the oddball fans that she interviews. They also seem to be excited to talk to her. One of the guy’s from the B-52’s does the song for the opening of the film. While not many of the Star Trek actors appear in this sequel, it’s not really about them. In the end the fans are the stars and I think they should be pleased with the result.

The Extras:
There are quite a few extras included on this DVD:

Commentary  Denise Crosby, director Roger Nygard, and one of the producers provide the commentary for the film. They have interesting stories about making the movie and meeting fans. It’s a pretty energetic and informative commentary.

Deleted Scenes  There are a ton of deleted scenes included on the DVD. There are so many that they could almost make another movie from them. They are divided up into deleted scenes from each of the cities that were in the film. In fact, there are even deleted scenes from a few cities that weren’t highlighted. If you liked the film, you’ll like the extras.

Fan Films  Two fan films are included on this DVD. The first is Brian Dellis’ “Final Frontier Revisited”. In this film, an apparently well fed starship crew goes back in time to the old west. When their Captain is captured, they must take part in a Wild West shootout in order to save him. The film is probably a bit bloodier than Gene Roddenberry intended Star Trek to be, but it looks professional. An audio commentary is also included in this film. The second film included on the DVD is Gabriel Koerner’s “Really Bad Star Trek”. In this parody, a weak starship crew goes through a series of misadventures. While the laughs aren’t that good, the effects are top notch. It looks like everyone involved had fun making these fan films.

The Bottom Line:
If you’ve ever been to a science fiction convention of any kind, then this movie will be right up your alley. If not, it’s probably of no interest to you. It’s required viewing for Star Trek fans, though.